Alternando da 1 a 100 e viceversa 1977

Curator: Let’s take a look at Alighiero Boetti’s textile piece, "Alternando da 1 a 100 e viceversa," created in 1977. At first glance, it may seem like a simple geometric abstraction. Editor: Woah, there's something so satisfying about this. It looks like a corrupted checkerboard! But playful... like some beautiful pixelated game about to start. There's such a sense of movement despite the simple squares and numbers hidden within. Curator: Indeed. Boetti frequently engaged with systems and order, often disrupting or questioning them. The numbers, ascending and descending, reveal a fascination with the tension between order and chaos, concepts which align with the tenets of Arte Povera and postminimalism art movements in which Boetti participated. This work becomes a kind of playful investigation into systems of knowledge and how we perceive them. Editor: Mmm, I can totally get that—it feels almost subversive to disrupt something so familiar, like a checkerboard. And using a textile makes it unexpectedly domestic... cozy even. It warms up what might be cold conceptualism. Curator: Precisely. It’s not merely a conceptual exercise. It's hand-crafted. Look at the vibrant lettering around the border, so evocative of the late 70s. The material presence, especially with the use of weaving and bright color, transforms intellectual rigor into a thing of beauty. Editor: Totally. There’s a looseness that humanizes the rigidity. It’s kind of like, if numbers could dance! Also, knowing this was created during a turbulent time in Italy, with societal unrest and challenges, gives it a poignant edge, like, can we find rhythm even when everything feels chaotic? Curator: Boetti saw this back and forth as a representation of continuous and generative social processes. It serves as an optimistic representation that in every established order exists a degree of instability, and perhaps, possibility for the unexpected to emerge. Editor: Makes you wonder what disruptions we might create... Beautiful! Well, I for one, would totally hang it on my wall. Or snuggle up with it on a cold winter's night! Curator: Yes, it's definitely food for thought in beautiful disguise. Thank you.